FONTANA, Calif. (March 25, 2017) – Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion, had improved over 20 positions throughout the course of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) event before getting involved in an incident in the closing laps, ultimately leading to a 23rd-place finish.
“I hate that that happened at the end of the race,” said Bayne after the race. “We had a really fast AdvoCare Ford all race long and were able to really make some gains and passes out there. It’s just unfortunate that our day ended the way it did. We’ll recover from this and get after it next week in Martinsville.”
Bayne took the green flag for the scheduled 200-Lap event from the 36th position after not being able to make an attempt in qualifying on Friday due to issues in the tech line. Once the race was underway, Bayne wasted little time charging forward, improving 11 positions by the completion of the first lap. Bayne’s climb did not end there as the Roush Fenway Racing driver drove up to 14th by the end of Stage 1, an increase of 22 positions over the 60-Lap stage.
After pitting for four tires and a chassis adjustment between Stages 1 and 2, Bayne took the Lap 67 restart for Stage 2 from the 10th position. The driver of the AdvoCare Ford continued to race for position inside the top 10 before a tight-handling condition shuffled Bayne back to 11th just before the green-checkered flag waved on Lap 120.
When the race went green for the final stage, the handling of the AdvoCare Ford continued to shift toward the tight side. This condition shuffled Bayne as far back as 17th before an opportune caution on Lap 189 gave crew chief Matt Puccia an opportunity to bring the Knoxville, Tenn. native to pit road for more adjustments. Bayne took the ensuing restart in 17th but drove his way back into the top 15 after making a four-wide move down the front straightaway.
Then, in the closing laps, contact with Roush Fenway teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. damaged the right-side of the AdvoCare Ford. After pitting several times for repairs, Bayne would return to the track to take the checkered flag in the 23rd position.
Next up for the MENCS is Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 2.
NEXT UP:
.526-Mile Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia
Sunday, April 2, 2017
2:00pm EST on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
RACE SUMMARY
Trevor Bayne
Started: 36th
Finished: 23rd
Complete Race Results:
www.roushfenway.com
